This dolly is made with 8 wheels, PVC 50mm diameter tubes and plywood. It's easily transportable, doesn't require you to buy a tripod head and is cheap in material. Moreover you can always chose to extend it buy buying other PVC tubes.

Steps

1

Decide on how long you need your track to be for the shots you need. Double that amount. We bought 18m of tubes based on our tripod and track needs. This is how we measured. If you’re using the same length as we did, you can skip this part. Example: I need a dolly of 6m:I need 12m of tube)

2

Decide on the length of the separate pieces of the track. For transport, you’d probably want them to be 1m or 1m50. How many individual tubes will you have? Multiply this number by 30 centimeter (11.8 in) and add to the first number. These will be the joints locking the tubes together. Example: 12m of tube divided by 1m50 pieces, is 8. 8 x 30 cm= 2m40

Look at your tubes. Ours had one thick and one smaller ending, so we had to adapt ourselves. If your tubes have both endings the same, some steps will be much easier for you. Some hardware stores might sell tubes with two small ends, but our stores in Venezuela only sold these. Same applies to your T-sections: ours had to connect on two sides to the small end and on one end to the big tube end, which made a difference in the sawing and measuring.

6

Put two tubes aside. Cut the other larger tubes in the lengths you want for your track part. Example: 4 tubes of 3m, cut in pieces of 1m50 = 8 track parts

7

Take the two tubes you put aside earlier. Take one and saw off a piece with a big end, equal to the top of the T of your dolly. Take the other tube, and saw off a piece of about 30 centimeter (11.8 in) with a big end. This will be the lower part of your dolly cart. You should have two tubes, each with a big end and a small end. Now, saw those two in half, mark them as dolly cart parts and put them aside.

8

Take what’s left of the two tubes. Saw off the centerpiece of the cart with two small endings. Mark it and put it aside with the other dolly parts. Example: Our tripod measured, rounded up, 70 centimeter (27.6 in) in between. That’s the length of the centerpiece.

9

Take what’s left and cut off tracks parts of the same length as the other parts. Mark and put aside with the other tracks parts.

10

You should have a few bits left. Cut them in pieces. Put these aside for the joints (amount of track parts minus 2). The rest will be used for testing. Mark and put aside. Example: 8 track parts, require 6 joints of about 20 centimeter (7.9 in). We should have 60 centimeter (23.6 in) of tubing left for tests.

11

Take all of the joints and saw open from one end to the other. Mark and put aside.

12

Take your plywood and choose a platform size for your dolly cart. This is where the tripod will actually stand on. Saw the pieces, mark them and put them aside.

13

Take your test tube and two wheels with their bolts, screws and washers. Choose a drill head corresponding to the size of the screw. Take a track tube from the pile.

14

Before you start drilling for the wheels, keep in mind:

15

Put them a few cm’s away from the tube opening. It’ll be easier to handle.

16

Don’t drill the holes opposite to each other. Leave some space, so the screws won’t touch each other in the tubes.

17

Both of your wheels need to touch the track underneath, while keeping a good contact surface with the dolly cart tube.

18

When you’re happy with how your wheels roll, draw a straight line across the tube crossing through the good holes on your test tube. Take the pieces of your dolly that require wheels and place them next to the test tube. Draw the first line over the complete length of your dolly cart tube. Keep the lines aligned, and draw the second line. Do this for all the 4 dolly cart tubes.

19

Draw drill marks on this line a few cm’s from the (small!) opening. Drill on this mark and add the wheels.

20

Take the tube parts of the dolly cart, the 2 T-section tubes and two dolly track parts. Put your dolly cart together. Align the wheel lines you made earlier with each other, over the T-sections.

21

Test on the tracks with your tripod, until you’re satisfied that all the wheels touch the tracks and roll as intended.

22

Glue the tubes together. Give the whole some time to dry to make sure they’re fixed.

23

Put your cart aside and take the dolly track parts and the joints. Mark the middle of the joint, and put one line of glue on the opposite side of the opening, from the rim to the center you just marked. Place this half inside the tube. Repeat this for the other track parts until you’re out of joints. You might have two tubes without joints, which is fine. Put the tracks aside.

24

Take your plywood and make the platform. Put it aside. Example: We taped two pieces of 80 centimeter (31.5 in) to each other in a T-shape.

25

From the rest of the plywood, make a narrow T-shape fitting the shape of the dolly. Line it with foam or some other soft material to serve as shock absorber. Example: We used a yoga mat.

26

Glue the plywood platform on top of the shock absorbing material.

27

Test and make adjustments if needed, before the whole dries up completely. Your dolly is ready, and you can now think of a cool way of painting your dolly. We chose not to paint, so none would attempt at stealing our equipment.

28

Decide on how many rails you can make. Example: We decided on 6 rails, because that was the amount of useful wood we received for free. Rails will give the dolly track more stability and keep the tracks more evenly aligned. Think about building these when filming on uneven streets or in nature.

29

Saw off pieces wood of 2x4 of about 10 centimeter (3.9 in) each. These will keep the dolly track tubes in place on the plywood.

30

Place the tracks and the dolly cart in position. Put the pieces of plywood and 2x4 under the track, where you want them to be. The tubes should be tightly nestled in between the 2x4 bits, but you should still be able to take the tracks easily.

31

Use tape to temporary keep the pieces of 2x4 in place, or ask a friend for help. Drive your dolly cart of the tracks and check if the wheels aren’t touching the wood. Adjust until they fit.

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Tips

You can always make the track longer afterwards.

Make your joints long, but not too long that they make your life harder in transport. Weigh for yourself how long you want your joints to be: longer will be more stable, but will also be more difficult in transport.

Rounding up when measuring will give you more flexibility for the use of other tripods. Round numbers are easier to work with.

Keep a good relationship with your shopkeeper. Our tubes were sold in lengths of 3m, so we bought 6 so he wouldn’t have to cut one.

Mark all the parts as soon as you have sawn them, not to use them accidentally for something else.

To create extra joints, make some of the test tube which you won’t use anymore.

The original designs uses springs as shock absorbers. However, we tested and didn’t manage to fit the springs correctly. Our test results were too bouncy.

The ideal wheels are rollerblade wheels, but these are also much more expensive.